Strange, but true: Trubisky's passer rating tops Brady's this season

The quarterback with the higher passer rating in Sunday's Patriots-Bears game is … wait for it … Mitch Trubisky.

"You want to say that one more time?" Bears coach Matt Nagy said, apparently pleased with the sound of the statistic. But it's true. Trubisky comes in at 105.6, while Brady is at 98.2, just a fraction better than his career mark of 97.6, which is third best in the history of the NFL.

"Every week, game-by-game, I'm really excited to see how Mitch improves," Nagy said. "Yeah, he's had a couple games where he's put together some good numbers. But we want to win, though. I say it to the guys: 'The numbers don't matter; it's all about the letters. That's what you should be judged on is letters, and then, whatever numbers come with that are great. But let's get the wins."

So far the Bears have three Ws and two Ls, while the Patriots have four Ls and two Ws. Although Trubisky has tossed 9 TD passes and just 1 interception in the last two games for a 143.3 passer rating, the Bears are just 1-1, so Nagy's point is well taken. But Trubisky has ascended from a game manager in 2017 to, at least some of the time, a game changer

"He's improving," Nagy said. "He's getting better within this offense. He's feeling much more comfortable. His teammates are feeling more comfortable. I did not know that about their rating. But I think it just shows who he is as a player, that he cares, and that he works hard. (But) he still has a lot of growth ahead of him."

Even more impressive numbers than passer rating are those that Patriots coach Bill Belichick tossed out when he was asked about the Bears' offense on a conference call with team reporters. The Pats' coach referenced the first of two deep balls from Trubisky to Taylor Gabriel last week.

"The execution of the play from Trubisky to Gabriel down the sideline against Miami, I mean, that's about as good a throw and catch as I've seen all year," Belichick said. "The execution on that was like 99 out of 100. It was a great, great throw, great route, great catch. There was like a few inches to get the ball in there 50 yards downfield, and that's where it was."

Belichick also lauded Trubisky for his work within the Bears' scheme, which features multiple options and employs various personnel groupings, all of which must be sorted out by the quarterback.

"There are a lot of options on some of those plays, (such as) which guy is going to end up with the ball based on a quarterback's decision," Belichick said. "It's up to the quarterback to make the right decision, and Trubisky's done a good job of that."

Belichick practically echoed Nagy's words about wins and losses being more indicative of a quarterback's value than gaudy statistics. He said Trubisky measures up in that department as well.

"The most important thing for a quarterback is winning football games," said Belichick, whose quarterback won his NFL-record 200th regular-season game Sunday night. "I don't think it's about stats. I think it's about doing what it takes to help your team win, and I think (Trubisky) has done a real good job of that.

"The quarterback's job is to deliver the ball to the playmakers and let them go. He's done a good job of that. He's a tough kid, which I respect. That's what we would ask our quarterbacks to do, to make plays to help our team win, to get the ball to the players that are open and in space."

• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.